“And where would we be in a world without the old Botswana morality? It would not work, in Mma Romatswe’s view, because it would mean that people could do as they wished without regard for what others thought. That would be a receipe for selfishness, a recipe as clear as if it were written out in a cookery book: Take one country, with all that the country means, with its kind people, and their smiles, and their habits of helping one another; ignore all this; shake about; add modern ideas; bake until ruined.”
It is clear from this series that Alexander McCall Smith loves Botswana and the people in it. His respect is such that with each book that I read, he makes me want to visit Botswana someday all the more.
In this installment, we have an advice columnist, a cook, a hornbill, high blood pressure, uncomfortable chairs, and questions about being ‘traditionally built’ and feminism. Good fun as always!
I don’t know where to even start with this book. I highlighted passages on almost every page. So Long a Letter is an insightful look at one woman’s pain and anguish when her husband takes another (much younger) wife. The book actually begins with Ramatoulaye’s widowhood. Her husband has just died and she is writing a letter to a friend about her feelings on her marriage, her husband’s taking of another wife (allowed in Islam), and her husband’s death.
Ramatoulaye, a Senegalese teacher, has 12 children, and her husband has run off (without telling her) and married her oldest daughter’s best friend. Sort of makes for a bad day. This is what her husband’s friends tell her, and her thoughts about it:
‘You can’t resist the imperious laws that demand food and clothing for man. These same laws compel the “male” in other respects. I say “male” to emphasie the bestiality of instincts… You understand….A wife must understand, once and for all, and must forgive; she must not worry herself about “betrayals of the flesh.” The important thing is what there is in the heart; that’s what unites two beings inside.’ (He struck his chest, at the point where the heart lies.)
‘Driven to the limits of my resistance, I satisfy myself with what is within reach. It’s a terrible thing to say. Truth is ugly when one analyses it.’
Thus, to justify himself, he reduced young Nabou to a ‘plate of food.’ Thus, for the sake of ‘variety,’ men are unfaithful to their wives.
I was irritated. He was asking me to understand. But to understand what? The supremacy of instinct? The right to betray? The justification of the desire for variety? I couldn’t be an ally to polygamic instincts. What, then was I to understand?
Another strong passage:
I had never known the sordid side of marriage. Don’t get to know! Run from it! When one begins to forgive, there is an avalanche of faults that comes crashing down, and the only thing that remains is to forgive again, to keep on forgiving. Leave, escape from betrayal!
Ramatoulaye doesn’t ‘leave’ her husband; they do not divorce, a fact which surprises her husband and, it is implied, irritates him. He never goes back to her, even though they are still married. As Ramatoulaye adjusts to her new life, she appreciates even more the value of friendship:
Friendship has splendours that love knows not. It grows stronger when crossed, whereas obstacles kill love. Friendship resists time, which wearies and severs couples. It has heights unknown to love.
Ramatoulaye also must raise her children alone (even before her husband’s death), with all the trials and tribulations that entails. But, she is obviously grateful for her children. On motherhood, Ramatoulaye states:
And also, one is a mother in order to understand the inexplicable. One is a mother to lighten the darkness. One is a mother to shield when lightning streaks the night, when thunder shakes the earth, when mud bogs one down. One is a mother in order to love without beginning or end.
I highly recommend this book to all, but especially those interested in women’s issues or in African fiction.
Note: This book is one of the new additions to the 1001 list.
1979 (French), 1981 for the English translation
90 pp.
I refuse to apologize for completely loving this series. Pure, delightful, light-hearted fun. This one does have some serious subjects to it, but what I enjoy most about this series is that everything always turns out okay in the end. With all the heavy reading I do, it’s nice to be able to ‘take a breather’ with the characters of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.
InMorality for Beautiful Girls, the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency faces a bit of a money crunch and considers relocating to J.L.B. Matekoni’s garage. Meanwhile, some creative double duty assignments are also given to Mma Makutsi. Precious Ramotswe takes on a case of an important government official who believes his brother is being poisoned, and Mma Makutsi does an investigation for a beauty pageant official. I found this latter case to be absolutely hysterical. It actually bumped up the rating from a 4 to a 4.5.
I listened to this installment on audio CD and loved the narrator, Lisette Lecat, who was also the narrator for Purple Hibiscus. I plan on reading and/or listening to the entire series this year and am absolutely looking forward to it.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has really impressed me with her writing abilities. Purple Hibiscus was Adichie’s first novel. I read her second book, Half of a Yellow Sun, last year and it was in my Top 20 for 2007. Although some have stated that Purple Hibiscus was not as good as Half of a Yellow Sun, I disagree. I think it was just as well-written, and in fact I may prefer it.
Kambili and her family are of the wealthy upper class in Nigeria. Her father owns several factories and is a major benefactor of his local church. Kambili is a very compliant child, always wanting to please her parents, while her brother Jaja is much more independent. Their father is very strict regarding his household in every detail. He puts both of them on a schedule everyday and they must not deviate from it. He insists on each child being first in their respective classes.
I felt so much for Kambili. In the beginning she truly looks up to her father and wants to please him. She believes he is perfect. As the story progresses, she sees more and more of his faults and begins to have more questions about his discipline. Kambili’s mother also suffers from his excessive demands. Any missteps he considers as sins to be physically removed from those committing them. Adichie doesn’t totally set him up as a monster, though; somehow she manages to make the reader sympathize (a little) with him as well.
Purple Hibiscus is not just a story of domestic abuse. It is also about the past political conflicts in Nigeria, about how Christianity has affected the region, and also about the strong bonds among family members. Adichie truly is following in Achebe’s footsteps as one of Nigeria’s greatest writers.
Highly recommended.
2003, 307 pp.
Rating: 4.5/5
2005 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize – Best First Book
It is almost always easier to learn about history through historical fiction or current world events through memoirs, and this book is no exception. Daoud Hari gives us a harrowing account of his experiences translating for various media outlets in the Darfur region. The violence in Darfur, especially toward women and children, is unspeakable. Though not overly graphic, it is still difficult to read in spots.
Similar to the plight of the Kurds, the people of Darfur have had their lives shattered due to boundaries set by people not of their region. This brief, engaging book will not only enlighten you to the situation in Darfur, but will also make you question the wisdom of meddling in other countries’ affairs at all.
The Life & Times of Michael K won the Booker Prize in 1983. Written by Nobel laureate J. M. Coetzee, it is set in South Africa during a civil war. Michael is a gardener in his earlier thirties who has a harelip. He was institutionalized by his mother when he was a child, but at the beginning of the book when she is old and very ill, she calls for him. She would like him to take her to the village where she grew up. Getting the proper paperwork for the train is practically impossible because of the war, so finally they give up on it and try to go there on their own.
Many things happen to Michael on the trip. He is captured and made to work for awhile, and then released. He finds what he thinks is the farm where his mother was raised and makes himself a home (if you can call it that) there. Struggling to survive and evade the government, in the midst of it all he still wants to be a gardener and plants a small pumpkin patch, which he guards and tends with fervor.
The book is told in three parts. Parts I and III describe the storyline from Michael’s perspective. Part II is told in first person by a doctor who tries to understand Michael when he is brought under his care. This was a thought-provoking book and I enjoyed it, though I could have done without some scenes at the end. I’ll definitely read more by Coetzee.
A quote:
I could live here forever, he thought, or till I die. Nothing would happen, every day would be the same as the day before, there would be nothing to say.
“And where would we be in a world without the old Botswana morality? It would not work, in Mma Romatswe’s view, because it would mean that people could do as they wished without regard for what others thought. That would be a receipe for selfishness, a recipe as clear as if it were written out in a cookery book: Take one country, with all that the country means, with its kind people, and their smiles, and their habits of helping one another; ignore all this; shake about; add modern ideas; bake until ruined.”
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has really impressed me with her writing abilities. Purple Hibiscus was Adichie’s first novel. I read her second book, 
The Life & Times of Michael K won the Booker Prize in 1983. Written by Nobel laureate J. M. Coetzee, it is set in South Africa during a civil war. Michael is a gardener in his earlier thirties who has a harelip. He was institutionalized by his mother when he was a child, but at the beginning of the book when she is old and very ill, she calls for him. She would like him to take her to the village where she grew up. Getting the proper paperwork for the train is practically impossible because of the war, so finally they give up on it and try to go there on their own.
